Monday, February 20 - Pembroke, North Carolina

Hello Everyone!!

This week has been a really great week!! Tuesday, I was transferred to Pembroke to serve with Sister Olson! We came out on our missions at the same time, so it's been really fun getting to serve with her! Pembroke is really great. It's so strange being so close to Lumberton. Pembroke reminds me of Ephraim, Utah and Roosevelt, Utah mixed together.

There isn't a whole lot to share this week since I have still been trying to figure out what is going on here in Pembroke. However, on Saturday, Danny got baptized!!! I was given permission to go back and it was really amazing! I found out at the baptism that when Sister Smith and her new companion had gone over to see him this past week, Danny told them that his brother had changed his mind and told him he could make his own decision about baptism!! Apparently, he really liked what he had heard when we went over a week ago! At his baptism, Danny was just glowing!! He looked so happy!!! It was really such a wonderful experience!

I really am just so grateful for this privilege I have to be serving a mission. Watching people repent and do all that they can to be baptized as a member of the true church has just been so exciting! I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he was called of God to restore His kingdom to the earth again. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's chosen prophet today and that he receives revelation for all of us so that we can know more about what we need to do to live with our Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have a living prophet who leads and guides our Heavenly Father's church. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it truly is another testament of the Savior Jesus Christ. "I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it."

I love you all so much!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

My New Address Is: 109 Barker St. Apt. F Pembroke, NC 28372

 

 

 

 

Lumberton, North Carolina - February 13, 2017

Hello family and friends! I hope you have all had a really great week this week! My time here in Lumberton has gone by in the blink of an eye!! I can't believe that I have been here for 6 months!! Monday night, President James called to ask if I would be a Sister Training Leader in Pembroke. Pembroke is only like 20 miles to the west of Lumberton! I won't even be leaving Robeson county. I am really excited!!!! The people here in Robeson county are very prepared to hear the gospel!!

This week has been really good. It has also been an emotional roller coaster haha!! This week, Danny's brother told Danny that if he got baptized, he would take him off the family will and would basically disown him. So, Danny decided Wednesday that he wanted to wait a little longer. We told him to keep praying and relying on the Lord. Thursday, we went back over and he said that he had changed his mind. He told us that he was old enough to make his own decisions and that he wanted to still get baptized Saturday. Friday, we went over to teach the final lesson and guess who was visiting.....his brother. His brother listened to what we had to say and was very nice. It was extremely awkward though! His brother told us that it was hard for him to see his brother change from Baptist to Mormon. The member we brought with us had converted from the Baptist church and said some really great remarks to the brother. We could tell that Danny was very uncomfortable. At the end of the lesson, he said that he wanted to hold off on the baptism. Later that night, we called him to make sure that was what he wanted. He said that he wanted to hold off on his baptism until next week. So, hopefully this Saturday all goes well and he will be able to get baptized! Since Pembroke is so close, I may be able to get permission to come back and see his baptism!! Everything else though went pretty well this week!

This week, I found the November 2013 Conference Ensign in our apartment and have been reading it all week! Recently I read President Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us". This talk is really great and I highly recommend you all listen to it or read it this week!! Anyways, my favorite quote from the talk is "...first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ....Come, join with us. Come heed the call of the gentle Christ. Take up your cross and follow Him." I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this is the church that our Heavenly Father wants all of His children to be a part of. I know that life gets hard and it can seem to be easy to doubt our faith, but don't do it! No matter where we are at in our lives, I know that the Savior will always welcome us in!

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for everything you do for me! There really is no where else I would rather be right now than here on my mission. I love you and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

Lumberton - February 13, 2017

Hello family and friends! I hope you have all had a really great week this week! My time here in Lumberton has gone by in the blink of an eye!! I can't believe that I have been here for 6 months!! Monday night, President James called to ask if I would be a Sister Training Leader in Pembroke. Pembroke is only like 20 miles to the west of Lumberton! I won't even be leaving Robeson county. I am really excited!!!! The people here in Robeson county are very prepared to hear the gospel!!

This week has been really good. It has also been an emotional roller coaster haha!! This week, Danny's brother told Danny that if he got baptized, he would take him off the family will and would basically disown him. So, Danny decided Wednesday that he wanted to wait a little longer. We told him to keep praying and relying on the Lord. Thursday, we went back over and he said that he had changed his mind. He told us that he was old enough to make his own decisions and that he wanted to still get baptized Saturday. Friday, we went over to teach the final lesson and guess who was visiting.....his brother. His brother listened to what we had to say and was very nice. It was extremely awkward though! His brother told us that it was hard for him to see his brother change from Baptist to Mormon. The member we brought with us had converted from the Baptist church and said some really great remarks to the brother. We could tell that Danny was very uncomfortable. At the end of the lesson, he said that he wanted to hold off on the baptism. Later that night, we called him to make sure that was what he wanted. He said that he wanted to hold off on his baptism until next week. So, hopefully this Saturday all goes well and he will be able to get baptized! Since Pembroke is so close, I may be able to get permission to come back and see his baptism!! Everything else though went pretty well this week!

This week, I found the November 2013 Conference Ensign in our apartment and have been reading it all week! Recently I read President Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us". This talk is really great and I highly recommend you all listen to it or read it this week!! Anyways, my favorite quote from the talk is "...first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ....Come, join with us. Come heed the call of the gentle Christ. Take up your cross and follow Him." I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this is the church that our Heavenly Father wants all of His children to be a part of. I know that life gets hard and it can seem to be easy to doubt our faith, but don't do it! No matter where we are at in our lives, I know that the Savior will always welcome us in!

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for everything you do for me! There really is no where else I would rather be right now than here on my mission. I love you and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 January 30, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Hello everyone!! Can you believe that it will be February this week?? Where is the time going??? This week has been really good!

This week, we had a world wide missionary broadcast and zone conference. The world wide broadcast was wonderful! The apostles and general authorities all discussed the importance of teaching towards conversion with our investigators. They also announced that our daily schedules were being changed and that we now only account for 4 key indicators. It was quite a big announcement! It's going to be interesting this week as we begin to live by a new schedule. Our investigators are doing well. Our investigator Danny is still lined up to be baptized next Saturday. He is still praying for confirmation on Joseph Smith and being baptized, but he really has loved what we have been teaching and what he learns at church. Tracy and Tony still have not come to church!! This week she ended up having to go to the hospital......Satan is really coming down on them! Haha!! Everyone else though is good. We are just trying to make a big focus on getting all of these wonderful people to come to sacrament meeting. Getting people to sacrament meeting has been the hardest thing for me to help people do on my mission. It all comes down to agency..........haha!

This week, the church put out a new mormon message. It's from Elder Holland's talk "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet". The story that the message portrays is the story that I shared in my farewell talk of the two brothers that were scaling up a canyon wall and got to a point where only one of them could move on. I don't know if you remember that story, but if you don't go an read it, it's a good one. Anyways, I just love the principle that the story teaches us of the need for our Savior. My testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ has grown so much on my mission. I feel that I have become more converted to the Savior. I am grateful for all that Jesus Christ has done for us. Because of Him, we are able to repent and change! I know that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father loves all of us so much. All they want more than anything is to have all of us return to live with them one day. So, have faith and grab onto our Savior's hands. He is reaching out for us and waiting for us to use the atonement, repent, and change.

I am truly grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve the Lord and be an instrument in His hands. Missionary work brings the greatest happiness into my life!! I love you and miss you all so much! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

January 23, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Hey!! I hope everyone has had a really great week this week!! Things here in Lumberton are going really well...except the weather haha. At the beginning of last week the temperature here reached the 80's.........in January. This weather really is quite strange. It's probably also the reason behind this wonderful cold that I have received this week. Even though being sick has completely worn me out, we have still been able to do some really great work.

Our investigators are all doing really well. We are working with a couple named Tracy and Tony. They met with the Elders less than a year ago, but wanted to resume taking lessons after the Elders had left. Since we have been teaching them, they have begun to progress wonderfully!! They are all set to be baptized on March 4th. I can't wait for them! This week, Tracy came to a Relief Society activity with us and absolutely loved it!! She's really great. She keeps texting and calling us to check up on us. She even called this morning to see how my cough was doing....I love her!! Now, we just need to get them to church. Every week, they are so determined to come....and then something happens. This week, the power went out Saturday night and so their alarm clock got reset. Last week, they were all ready to go to church and went out to the car and their tire was flat.....the list goes on and on!! Haha Satan is working really hard on those two!! We also saw our investigator Katie who is my other favorite! She is the one from Minnesota who has been meeting with missionaries for over a year now. This month she has decided that by the end of the month she will make up her mind of what she wants to do.....get baptized or not. We just want her to be happy and know that whatever decision she comes to it will be what is best for her right now.

In Relief Society yesterday, our lesson was from Elder Juan A. Uceda's talk from General Conference called "The Lord Teaches Us to Pray". This talk is really wonderful and I suggest that all of you read it! This talk is just a great reminder of how important it is to pray to our Heavenly Father. On my mission, I have been trying harder to pray more and to always have a prayer in my heart. On the days that I remember to have a prayer in my heart, I feel that my day goes much better because I know I am more in tune with my Heavenly Father. When I am more in tune with Him, I am doing more of the things that He wants me to do rather than what I want to do.

I hope you all have a really great week!! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Paynter